A simplified technique to prepare fungal specimens for scanning electron microscopy.

A simplified technique to prepare fungal specimens for scanning electron microscopy is described and discussed. Fixation in either 6% glutaraldehyde or 2% Os04 (both unbuffered aqueous solutions), yielded good results. The minimum fixation time in OSO4 was 2 h, in glutaraldehyde 4 to 5 h. Chemical dehydration with 2-methoxyethanol or 2,2-dimethoxypropane proved to be useful since it considerably reduced the preparation time. Because of the relatively few changes of reagent solutions during the whole process, the fungal specimens were less disturbed without much loss of material. The preparation technique described has been applied to specimens of various fungal groups with good results.